Page:A simplified grammar of the Roumanian language.djvu/73



propose to show here very briefly how to combine the different parts and particles of speech, in order to make a correct Roumanian sentence.

The subject of the verb is put in the nominative case, and its place is at the beginning of the sentence:
 * Trandafirul este o flóre frumóssă, ‘The rose is a pretty flower;’
 * Dumnezeŭ a zidit lumea, ‘God has created the world.’

The dependence of one noun upon another is indicated by the genitive case:
 * Flórea cîmpuluĭ, ‘The flower of the field;’
 * Cartea copiluluĭ, ‘The book of the child.’

We see here that when the genitive follows the subject, the particle a is omitted. But when the genitive precedes the subject, as it often does in verse, the particle a cannot be omitted. In such case the subject is without the article: